


You Keep On Using That Word

by SpiderMansUnfriendlyNeighbor



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: "Sith Lord" Luke Skywalker, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Crack, Gen, Humor, Manipulative Sheev Palpatine, Parent Darth Vader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23690833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiderMansUnfriendlyNeighbor/pseuds/SpiderMansUnfriendlyNeighbor
Summary: Both Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader insist that Luke is a Sith Lord. Palpatine isn’t so easily convinced. Rated Teen for safety.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Luke Skywalker, Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader
Comments: 23
Kudos: 216





	You Keep On Using That Word

Luke Skywalker had been trained in the Sith arts since he was five years old. At least, that’s what his father always said he was training him in. His father had never lied to him about anything else, so he naturally assumed Vader was telling the truth about this.

That was why Palpatine’s interrogation was confusing him so much. Luke had used his training in the Sith arts to save a family from wrongful execution by Palpatine’s elite guard and suddenly he was in front of Palpatine getting the third degree. He didn’t understand it. What was the big deal?

“If you are a Sith Lord, then why is your lightsaber green?” Palpatine asked.

“Sith lightsabers can be any color. Mine is green,” Luke explained patiently.

“Sith lightsabers are red,” Palpatine argued.

“Some of them are, yes,” Luke agreed. “But some of them aren’t. I’m a Sith and my lightsaber is green.” He kept his mind open, even though his father had told him to never under any circumstances leave his mind unguarded, so that Palpatine could see he was telling the truth.

“Wrong! Sith lightsabers can only be red, boy. Who told you differently?”

“My…father. He told me that’s what you taught him.” What was up with Palpatine? Had he forgotten everything he taught his father?

“If you are a Sith Lord, then why are you strong in the Light Side of the Force?” Palpatine shifted on his throne.

Luke clasped his hands behind his back and prepared himself to deflect a burst of lightning. What he said might be true, but Father had always taught him to never insult someone (especially a certain someone) to their face when in polite settings, even if Luke was right. “My father says that only misguided Sith are completely bound to only the Dark Side of the Force.”

“He what?” Palpatine exploded.

“Because the Dark Side is driven by things like anger and aggression and hate and fear, and those are just emotions, and you can’t experience any emotion all of the time. Father says that if you nurture passions like that to use the Dark Side, you end up a slave to your emotions, and that a life where all you ever are is angry or hateful or fearful or sad is no life at all. I thought every Sith knew that.”

Palpatine’s eye twitched. He pressed a button on his throne.

“Yes, my lord?” a bland Imperial answered.

“Tell Lord Vader to come to my side at once.”

It wasn’t long before Father was standing at Luke’s side. Palpatine launched into his accusations as soon as he was standing still.

“You’ve been teaching your son to be a Jedi!” Palpatine screeched.

Luke started. “Now hang on. I’m no Jedi.”

Father spoke at the same time. “I would never do that, Master. I am training Luke in the way of the Sith.”

“The way of the Sith!” Palpatine repeated. His mouth opened and closed several times with no words coming out. Finally, he managed, “The Light Side isn’t the way of the Sith.”

“Maybe it should be,” Father replied.

Luke’s own mouth dropped open. “You…you mean that the Light Side isn’t the way of the Sith? You always said it was! What have you been teaching me?”

Father shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. “The…way of the Sith?” he offered.

“Oh, come on, you and I both know that’s not true,” Palpatine snapped.

“Well, I haven’t been teaching him to be a Jedi!” Father was vehement. “You know I hate Jedi!”

“Enough of this,” Palpatine snapped. “You two have been disobedient and have become threats to my existence.”

Lightning blasted Luke across the room. Pain enveloped him, consumed him, became his very world. Until it wasn’t.

He lifted his head from the floor. Palpatine’s headless corpse collapsed to the floor. Father stood behind him, lightsaber lit.

Luke blinked, stunned. He didn’t even know how to react. “Father?”

Father stood unmoving for almost a minute, his head down. Finally, his voice rumbled, low and quiet. “I have a confession to make.”

Luke shakily pushed himself up. “I’m listening.”

“I’m not a Sith anymore.”

“But—”

“And neither are you. You never were. I lasted all of two weeks teaching you the Dark Side before I couldn’t stand it anymore. You were never meant to be a Sith. My visions showed me that.” [ _A.N.: And we all know how Anakin Skywalker reacts to visions_ ] Father deactivated his lightsaber but didn’t stop staring at Palpatine.

“But you said the Light Side is—”

“I lied, Luke,” Father raised his voice. “I couldn’t have the Emperor thinking—You know, to be honest, I’m really surprised we fooled him this long.”

“So…am I a Sith?” Luke tried to stay calm in the face of his entire world being upended, but he was still reeling. His father had lied to him? Really?

“No.” Father’s hand tightened around his lightsaber, the leather glove creaking. “You’re a Jedi.” He sighed as if the next words physically pained him to say. “And, I suppose, I am one again too.”

“So you’re…Darth Vader, Jedi Knight?” Luke asked from his new permanent home on the throne room floor.

“No.” Father shook his head to emphasize his disagreement. “I’m Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight.”

“No; wrong you are.” An old green troll thumped slowly into the throne room and stopped to stare at Father. “Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Master, you are now.”

And then Luke saw something he thought could never happen or Coruscant’s sun would go supernova.

Anakin Skywalker fainted.

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in an AU where Vader acquired Luke at age five. I'm not saying this in the fic, but most likely, it was after Tusken Raiders or Jabba's men killed Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru, and Obi-Wan. Getting Luke by saving his life instead of killing his family definitely made it easier for Vader to return to the light. I'm most likely not continuing this, so please don't ask.


End file.
